Labor Day in Crested Butte

We may have used COVID as an excuse to road trip all over Colorado this year, which also led us our new favorite place in the state, Crested Butte! While we thought Crested Butte would be a great winter destination for skiing, it may even be better in the summer. Our long weekend adventure was over Labor Day weekend, which resulted in crazy traffic getting to Crested Butte and coming home. The 4.5 hour drive became a 6-7 hour slog of sitting on 285 on the way up and I-70 on the way back. We tried two different routes and both were jam packed with cars escaping the heat in Denver.

Despite the terrible drive we truly enjoyed Crested Butte. The town was touristy but still had the old mining feel and the views were incredible. To top it off there are tons of hiking options from easy hikes along rivers to strenuous hikes up mountain peaks. We really liked Ridgway and Ouray from our earlier southwest Colorado road trip but Crested Butte may be our new favorite place in Colorado.

Our Trip to Southwest Colorado

Well 2020 is an interesting year to say the least, but Beth and I had a chance to escape some of the chaos with a road trip to Southwest Colorado. Visiting Ouray, Telluride, Durango, Mesa Verde, and the Black Canyon has been on our bucket list since moving to Colorado over three years ago. While Beth and I usually do some grand trip out of the country in the summer, COVID provided a very valid excuse to stay close to home. It also let us bring our dog, Spruce, on the adventure!

Our ten day trip started in late July as we blasted down I-70 towards Grand Junction. We visited the Colorado National Monument and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Parks on the way to our first stop in Ridgway, Colorado where we stayed for four nights. From Ridgway we did plenty of hiking and explored the surrounding area including Telluride and Ouray. After Ridgway we ventured further south passing through Silverton and Durango to stay close to Vallecito Lake for three nights. The idea here was to relax at the lake and drive to Mesa Verde National Park. Our final stop was in South Fork for two nights to relax along the Rio Grande River and get a final hike in at nearby Creede. The entire trip encompassed over 1,000 miles of driving just in Colorado!

Just over two years ago Beth, my mom, my sister, and I were in the process of planning our trip to France to visit my Aunt Kathy. Aunt Kathy had moved to the wine region of Saint-Émilion just outside of Bordeaux over 10 years ago. We were all excited to see her. Sadly just a couple of months before our trip Aunt Kathy tragically passed away very unexpectedly in March 2018.

This was very devastating as we were all extremely excited to see her and my mom lost her beloved sister. Aunt Kathy lived life to the beat of her own drum and was one of the most caring and loving people around. When she first moved to Europe our family would play where in the world is Aunt Kathy as she hadn’t quite picked a spot. She would send my mom and our extended family random emails or just pictures from wherever she was. One of the emails I remember, talked about how great the weather was and about flocks of flamingos. Our whole family would try to guess where she was in Europe. Eventually her travels through Europe landed her in Saint-Émilion permanently where she purchased an old vineyard with her husband. Once she settled in at her vineyard, Chateau Plaisance, many family members visited her throughout the years.

As for our journey we decided to keep our travels to France for that summer to honor Aunt Kathy. Her husband was more than welcoming and encouraged us to continue our trip. We spent the first couple of days in Paris before taking a high speed train to Libourne where Aunt Kathy’s husband picked us up. It was truly wonderful experience getting the local European culture, learning about how the chateau functions, and reminiscing about Aunt Kathy. We were able to visit many of Aunt Kathy’s favorite spots which were very emotional but great experiences.

Greece is known for having some of the most famous and incredible ruins anywhere in the world. Many people know about the Acropolis, Delphi, Olympia, and Sparta but not many people know about ancient Messene. Ancient Messene sits on the Peloponnese near Kalamata and is definitely worth the small detour. Despite not being well known, Messene is one of the more impressive ruins in all of Greece. Messene was built in 369 BC and was one of the most prominent cities at the time. The ruins are extremely well preserved as it is one of the few places where the city was not destroyed or built over.

The far distance from Athens makes this historical site not crowded at all. We were two of maybe 30 people in the entire city! Yes, the site is the size of a small city and does require some walking. The entrance to the ruins at Messene sits below a more modern small village and has a very low fee to enter. From the top of the modern village you get a great view of the entire ruins and has a couple of great restaurants. Nearby to the ruins is a small museum with some statues and other items excavated from the site.

While staying in Peloponnese, Greece our plan was to try to adventure to many of the beautiful towns and beaches. From the Westin Costa Navarino we thought a perfect day trip would be to Methoni which is only 35 minutes away. Methoni is a small town on the southwestern most tip of mainland Greece and has an incredible castle. From our research there was also the possibility of taking a boat to the nearby Sapientza Isle. We could barely find any information online about this boat. The best guidance we could find was to show up at the docks at 10:00 AM.

Getting a Boat to Sapientza Isle

For our day trip to Methoni we got up early to leave us plenty of time to try and find the boat to Sapientza. The drive took us around the Gialova Bay, through the nearby town of Pylos, and then to Methoni. As with many Greek coastal towns the best and easiest parking is near the docks. We parked for free right in front of the main dock.

When we arrived we didn’t see any boats on the main dock. At a nearby restaurant we asked about the boat and they said that the dock was the correct place. Sure enough right around 10 AM we saw a small boat pull up. We walked out to the dock and saw a German couple doing the same thing as us. They joined us on the boat to Sapientza.

The name of the boat charter was Balkan Cruises. In our research we could find very limited information online about them but we can assure you they exist. Our captain didn’t speak much English but we were able to negotiate a ride to the island and back for 15 Euros each. We hopped on the boat and were dropped off at the uninhabited island with our new German friends and no way of contacting anyone… We told the boat captain to pick us up around 1 PM. The possibility of being stranded did occur to us. We prayed that the Euros we owned him would be enough of an incentive to pick us up…